Knicks coach David Fizdale calls last two years in U.S. an 'embarrassment'

By Carron J. Phillips

Nov 07, 2018 | 8:25 PM

ATLANTA - David Fizdale still refuses to “shut up and coach.”

The Knicks head coach has a history of using his platform to speak on social issues and that continued on Wednesday evening as his team and the Atlanta Hawks prepared to face off for the first time since the season opener.

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Before the game, Fizdale weighed in on the state of the country and the highly-scrutinized gubernatorial race in Georgia between Stacey Abrams, looking to become the first black governor in American history, and Republican candidate Brian Kemp.

“Obviously there is a lot of turmoil in our country over this stuff,” said Fizdale. “At some point, I just hope that we can get to a place where we can do this with the right temperament and set the right tone for our children.

“Because right now, what’s been happening over the last two years has been an embarrassment.

“I don’t know the details of what happened yet, or if she’s (Abrams) conceded yet,” Fizdale said about Abrams who trails arguing that thousands of votes haven’t been tallied.

Knicks coach David Fizdale calls the last two years in the U.S. an "embarrassment". (Elsa / Getty Images)

The race in Georgia is far from over as Abrams is refusing to concede until every vote has been counted.

“We have three factors to be considered here: outstanding votes, absentee ballots to be counted and provisional ballots. Given those three issues, we believe this is likely heading to a runoff,” Abrams’ campaign manager Lauren Groh-Wargo told supporters in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

The race has gained national attention over the past few weeks as it’s been clouded by drama and controversy. There have been accusations of voter suppression and elections rigging that have led to multiple lawsuits, as Kemp, who, as the Secretary of the State of Georgia, refused to recuse himself from election oversight despite running in an election that his office oversees.

In his time as the head coach of the Memphis Grizzlies, Fizdale spoke out about the player protests that have taken place in the NFL and was asked if he would support his players if they wanted to kneel in peaceful protest.

“Absolutely,” he said back in September of 2017. “There’s no gray area today. I’ll be on my knee. Standing with your team is the most important thing especially when they’re standing for what’s right. … When these guys are on the right side of history, who am I to not stand with them and back them in a time when they can face a lot of criticism and a lot of backlash for it. So I’m in the trenches with these guys. Whatever they decide to do, I’ll be right there with them.”

The Knicks coach isn’t too fond of Donald Trump, either, something he illustrated in that same interview in 2017.

“He’s trying to divide us from our military now. He’s trying to divide us from our fan base. He’s trying to divide us from each other in the locker room,” he continued. “My response to that is the human spirit will always win out. People are starting to see him for what he is. When you say that we’re disrespecting the military when we protest, I think that’s a slap in the face to all citizens who are all Americans.

“We all live under that flag. The military is not fighting for that flag. They’re fighting for what it stands for. It stands for our right to choose and our right to protest. People should be proud of these athletes for doing this the right way and taking a stand.”

And when the conversation about the continued existence of Confederate statutes in the South was taking place, Fizdale didn’t hesitate to share his thoughts about seeing them in a city like Memphis, a place that played an important role in the civil rights movement.

“My agenda is simple -- I want those things out of our city, out of public view,” Fizdale told NBA.com.

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“I’m not even saying tear them up and melt them down,” he explained. “Put them in their proper context in history. Their proper context is in a civil rights museum, where you could put them in context and talk about how awful they were. I just feel our citizens should not have to see that involuntarily.”

Like his fellow NBA coaches in Gregg Popovich (Spurs) and Steve Kerr (Warriors), Fizdale isn’t afraid to speak his mind about social issues that are affecting our country.

And he’s willing to talk about it anywhere, from Memphis to Madison Square Garden, and even in a back hallway at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta.